If you’re fondly dreaming of an actual Steam Deck 2, not some half-and-half OLED travesty, you should also be fondly dreaming of a better class of battery. Valve designers Lawrence Yang and Yazan Aldehayyat have shared a little of the company’s thinking regarding “generational leaps” in hardware, commenting that they don’t want to release a Steam Deck sequel that is “only incrementally better”, and in particular, that they don’t want to release a new Steam Deck that is drastically more powerful at the expense of battery life.
Alan Wake 2 gets a chunky patch tomorrow, October 22, as developer Remedy Entertainment has unveiled the Anniversary Update.
A blog post outlined the myriad additions coming to Alan Wake 2 in a major update to its acccessibility settings, with Remedy adding options such as infinite ammo and one shot kills. The update is free and launches alongside but not as part of the The Lake House expansion.
Alongside the accessibility additions comes the ability to invert the horizontal axis and not just the vertical, plus updates to DualSense functionality on PlayStation 5 such as motion control support and more haptic feedback. The full patch notes are available below.
“We can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Alan Wake 2 was released,” Remedy said. “Thank you to everyone who has played the game and become a member of our fanbase and the Remedy community, no matter when you joined us or how long you’ve been a fan.”
Alan Wake 2 arrived in 2023 as a survival horror game following the titular writer who continues to face psychological horror beyond anything imagined in his books. In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “Alan Wake 2 is a superb survival horror sequel that makes the cult-classic original seem like little more than a rough first draft by comparison.”
As of August, Alan Wake 2 had yet to turn a profit for Remedy, but it had recouped most of its development and marketing expenses.
Alan Wake 2 Anniversary Update patch notes
Added the ability to invert the X (horizontal) axis on mouse and controller, and not just the Y (vertical) axis
Added gyro aiming (motion controls) support on PlayStation 5
You can turn the motion sensor function on and off, as well as tweak horizontal and vertical sensitivity, set gyro space, and choose whether your pitch, yaw, and roll directions are standard or inverted
Added haptic feedback to healing items and throwables on PlayStation 5
Added Gameplay Assist menu in Gameplay Options, which contains several options such as:
Quick turn
Auto complete QTE
Button tapping to single tap
Weapon charging with taps
Healing items with taps
Lightshifter with taps
Player invulnerability
Player immortality
One shot kill
Infinite ammo
Infinite flashlight batteries
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Since this is a Sonic review I’ll go fast and cut to the chase: Sonic X Shadow Generations is a fantastic combination of one of the Blue Blur’s classics and a new helping of smartly designed Shadow levels built around his own abilities, and after spending some time with it has become one of my favorite Sonic games I’ve ever played. Sega and Sonic Team have learned from their recent attempts, Frontiers and Superstars, and have found clever ways to weave the best ideas of those games into a major refresh of a fan favorite. And certainly, when it comes to Shadow the Hedgehog, this is his definitive game.
Half of the content of Sonic X Shadow Generations is remastered from 2011’s Sonic Generations, which we gave an 8.5 In ourreview back then. It does have a few new bells and whistles, like the adorable Chao hidden in each 2D and 3D stages, but other than their level designs are mostly unchanged because they hold up just fine. I’d like to imagine that the Chao are a hint that we’ll see the return of the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2 in a future Sonic game, but for now they’re just a nice homage.
If you never played the original, it’s definitely worth experiencing it for the first time here: Sonic Generations is a stellar combination of 2D and 3D gameplay that celebrated what was at the time a 20-year history by curating and recreating some of the best and most iconic Sonic levels that had come before. Shadow Generations wastes no time showcasing its creativity with multiple stand-out moments. The very first stage, or instance, transforms into fractals and looks like the alternate dimensions we’ve seen in Dr. Strange or Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The levels from Sonic Generations also get a slight but noticeable graphical boost thanks to the current generation of consoles: environments look more polished and the colors are more vibrant, making enemies, hazards, and springs just a bit more noticeable when you’re moving at high speed. So by default this is the best way to play it, even if the difference isn’t night and day.
This is the best way to play Generations, even if the difference isn’t night and day.
However, the real reason you’d want to play Sonic X Shadow Generations is the all-new campaign filled with creative reimaginings of Shadow’s stages from his past appearances throughout the Sonic series. Shadow’s five-hour campaign is separate from the Generations storyline but plays out in a similar way, in that each stage has one part in 2D and another in 3D. Shadow’s stages have all the fast-paced appeal you’d expect to get when playing as Sonic, similar to when new paths open up when replaying a stage after Sonic has gained the light dash ability. Shadow starts with a similar skill called the Chaos Dash, and then goes on to open up even more pathways when returning to stages with abilities like the Doom Wings that let you fly short distances and skip whole sections of levels, making them play very differently.
Shadow’s Chaos Control ability also creates fantastic moments where he does things like freeze time to destroy a missile flying at him in a flashy mini cutscene. And, unlike in the 2D Sonic stages that play like classic Sonic with no homing attack or boost gauge, Shadow keeps all his abilities for his 2D sections so they feel just as fast as his 3D stages.
Besides the main stages there are various challenge stages with objectives like requiring you to destroy enough targets before reaching the goal, or finish a hazard-filled level with a single ring to unlock bosses and the next set of stages. It’s similar to Sonic Generations, with the main difference being that you need to complete all of the challenges to acquire the keys you need, instead of just one. I do miss the collecting of the Chaos Emeralds you get in Sonic Generations, because some of them had fun rival boss battles against characters like Metal Sonic and Silver, but since Sonic is collecting them in his portion of the story it wouldn’t make much sense for Shadow to be collecting them at the same time in his.
With both campaigns combined, the total number of stages is now over 150.
With both campaigns combined, the total number of stages is now over 150, including traditional, challenge, and boss stages. That would take even an avid Sonic fan about 15 to 20 hours to burn through. And for those looking for even more challenges, completing the Shadow campaign will unlock a new option that increases the difficulty of bosses and challenge levels when replaying them.
Though minimal, there are some new storylines that creatively weave between games where Shadow has appeared, tying them into big moments we’ve seen in past games, like Sonic and Shadow’s duel in Sonic Adventure 2. There is also a healthy dose of new scenes filling in Shadow’s past that reunite him with friends and foes, and offer more context to his storylines in games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Adventure 2. These moments ranged from fascinating to kickass, and they always left me wanting more.
Like Sonic’s, Shadow’s is made up of fun reimaginations of some of his best stages across past Sonic games. We’ve got new versions of levels like Radical Highway, Rail Canyon, and the Space Colony Ark, and each stage is packed to the brim with creative routes that make good use of Shadow’s old and new abilities.
He begins with his iconic Chaos Control ability, which stops time (including the stage timer) and allows you to outrun hazards like a runaway train, stop groups of enemies in their tracks so you can dispatch them with ease, or use the new Chaos Dash to reach strategically placed shortcuts.
From there, you unlock Doom abilities that give you new options for movement and combat. Without going into spoiler territory, one of my favorites that you get about midway through his story is Doom Surf. This power makes water levels a lot more fun by giving you a shadowy manta ray that can spin-attack through enemies and objects. These abilities are handed out after finishing a group of stages or an area’s boss, and they come at a fast enough pace to keep things consistently interesting and different from what came before.
Doom Surf makes water levels a lot more fun.
There are also some creative and enjoyable new versions of boss fights, like a metallic dragon that has you chasing him on the water, knocking trash into him, and charging up so you can unleash Chaos Control and land some real damage with a homing attack. I wish there were more of those, but those that are here make excellent use of the most recent Doom abilities and are all fantastic additions to the collection of egg robots and various other bosses from Sonic history.
In fact, the only stage that broke my momentum and reminded me of the missteps of modern Sonic games was the Sonic Frontiers 3D stage. It feels empty compared to most of Sonic X Shadow Generations and had an overreliance on a new sludge-based upgrade for Shadow that reminded me of one of my least favorite Wisp powers from Sonic Colors. Other than that, though, I enjoyed replaying every stage to find optimal paths, gather collectible keys to unlock secrets in the hub world, and improve my runs until I earned the coveted S-rankings.
Sonic X Shadow Generations also evolves the all-white hub world of Sonic Generations by taking it from a 2D plane to a three-dimensional one that expands outwards as you complete all the stages in a section and its accompanying boss. In between stages, I’d spend some time exploring the hub world to see what chests I could open using the keys I’d collected, as well as completing various optional activities like collecting 100 rings in a short amount of time to unlock multiple rewards like artwork, music, or journal entries about characters and the events of Shadow’s life.
Similar to his blue counterpart, Shadow also has stages that are entirely locked to the old-school 2D perspective, and they feel right at home as he races his way to the goal. Besides a McDonalds toy called the Shadow Grinder from 2003 and a DLC stage in Sonic Forces: Episode Shadow, this is the first time we’ve gotten multiple full-2D Shadow levels, and it was interesting to see how his expanded move set impacted their designs. Abilities like Chaos Spears allowed me to hit switches from a distance to open up alternate paths, while Doom Surf meant no longer having to deal with those underwater sections of Sonic games that a lot of people don’t enjoy – you can just surf right on top of the water until reaching land.
Finally, I have to call out that the music accompanying our favorite hedgehogs as they race to the goal line is excellent, the guitar riffs for stages like Radical Highway and Space Colony Ark return, and are joined by some fantastic tracks like Crush 40’s All Hail Shadow and Sonic Heroes Rail Canyon theme. One of my favorite elements of the Generations games is the selectable background music for every stage and challenge, so if you only want to hear Live & Learn across every stage like the Crush 40 sicko you are, you can do that! The only catch is that you have to find some music tracks in chests scattered across the Shadow’s hub world or by collecting the musical notes and Red rings in Sonics to unlock them, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay.
Back in the protean stink of 2013, the beast we call Factorio sprouted in lowercase early access form and began its meticulous, ravenous conquest of the emerging factory sim genre. Some say that Factorio gave that genre life, though I’d point at Dwarf Fortress as one among many notable forebears. Today, the terrain of factory simming is hotly contested by rival piles of conveyor belt spaghetti. I’m not just talking about Satisfactory or Shapez – they’re even making philosophical factory sims these days. They have cosy factory sims now.
Accordingly, the immense, smoke-rimmed cyborg eye of Factorio has turned from the exhausted soil to the relatively untapped heavens. Somewhere up there, there is unspoilt territory. Somewhere, there is land that has never known the roar of a smelter – and in Factorio’s behemothic Space Age DLC, out today, you will find it.
When Blumhouse Productions announced its venture into the video game industry with Blumhouse Games, it would have been all too easy for the company to lean on some of its most recognisable IPs for its first release. Franchises such as Insidious, The Purge, Sinister, and Paranormal Activity certainly have strong potential within the video game realm, but Blumhouse has instead chosen to take a chance on two-person development team Cozy Game Pals and their debut title, Fear the Spotlight.
And boy, was it the right decision! With its low-fi, PS1-style visuals, tactile puzzles, and a sharp focus on atmosphere and dread, Fear the Spotlight is a wonderful venture into the unknown that will keep you enthralled throughout its five-to-six-hour runtime. Very minor performance hiccups aside, if you’re after something spooky yet approachable to complement your Halloween celebrations this year, Cozy Game Pals’ narrative horror is the perfect choice.
The Call of Duty riot shield has been a source of much debate within the community for years. This primary weapon replacement — a huge shield that lets you deflect bullets from enemy weapons — has sparked as much frustration as it has devilish delight, with critics claiming the riot shield encourages frustrating turtle tactics that are hard to counter, and fans saying, essentially, get good.
Over the last few Call of Duty games, the riot shield has met with consistent calls for it to be either nerfed or pulled from the game. It’s a particular favorite of the Modern Warfare sub-brand, appearing in last year’s Modern Warfare 3, 2022’s Modern Warfare 2, and 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Black Ops developer Treyarch, however, isn’t a fan; the only Treyarch game to have a riot shield as a weapon was 2012’s Black Ops 2.
And so, when Activision published a blog post confirming all the Black Ops 6 launch weapons, fans were quick to scan for the riot shield. Lo and behold, it is nowhere to be found; cue rapturous applause from (most) fans who are now looking forward to straight up gun fights in their gun game.
With Black Ops 6, players won’t need to worry about having to change their strategy to cope with riot shield opponents, which means no need to save that explosive just in case or scan for those hard to hit weak spots. In truth, the riot shield and its slower, more defensive gameplay probably wasn’t the best fit for the fast-paced Black Ops 6 and its new Omnimovement mechanic anyway.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Vampire Survivors was our best game of 2022 and one of the best roguelikes, period. And over the years it’s received a slew of updates that make it a bit bigger and a bit better, but nothing that’s been mega substantial. That is, until today’s announcement that it’s getting an Ode To Castlevania expansion, classed by developers Poncle as the game’s biggest DLC yet. More characters, more weapons, a weapon selector, an enormous stage. I simply can’t wait to devour more packets of crisps as I play this.
Bloober Team has released the first major update for the Silent Hill 2 remake in Patch 1.04, addressing myriad gameplay issues as well as improving the survival horror game’s technical performance.
The patch notes were released on Steam and outline dozens of changes made to Silent Hill 2. Some address funnier bugs like protagonist James teleporting through a peephole and getting stuck in a window near Neely’s Bar.
On the technical front, Bloober Team has reduced visual glitches when using the latest version of Nvidia DLSS, added an option to enable DLSS frame generation in the menu when using DLSS for supersampling, and added support for AMD FSR 3.1.1. The full patch notes are available below.
Bloober Team and publisher Konami released the Silent Hill 2 remake on October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales, leaving many fans of the previously dormant horror franchise eager for more.
In our 8/10 review of the Silent Hill 2 remake, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
Silent Hill 2 Remake Patch 1.04 Notes
Technical
– Reduced visual glitches when using the latest version of NVIDIA DLSS. – Added an option to enable DLSS frame generation in the menu when using DLSS for supersampling. – NVIDIA Reflex is now active when DLSS frame generation is enabled. – Added support for AMD FSR 3.1.1. – Added an option to enable AMD Fluid Motion Frames in the menu when using FSR 3.1 for supersampling. – Updated Intel Nanites to support upcoming driver updates. – Improved performance and optimization for Steam Deck. – Fixed stuttering issues related to sky map generation. – Added an option to enable/disable HZB culling to fix stuttering on some AMD/Intel GPUs. – All graphic settings should be saved locally. Gameplay
– Fixed an issue with translation for UI “High” preset not being translated and displayed correctly – Fixed an issue with Wooden Plank appearing during James’ death animation – Fixed streaming issue where staring at the walls inside the Grand Market caused problems with loading all of the environment around James – Fixed an issue where interacting with the wrong side of the peephole in Brookhaven Hospital teleported James to the other side – Fixed an issue where breaking windows near Neely’s Bar got James stuck in the window frame – Fixed an issue that allowed James to access the inaccessible balcony in Blue Creek Apartments – Fixed an issue with Abstract Daddy’s behavior during boss fight where the enemy was not hitting James properly – Fixed multiple issues with Abstract Daddy’s 3rd TV – it should now have the correct audio, and the wall won’t interfere with its position – Fixed an issue with a question mark from the Conference Room not disappearing after obtaining Cinderella figurine in Lakeview Hotel – Fixed an issue with collision detection with the Dayroom walls in Brookhaven Hospital – Fixed an issue where James was falling under the map when approaching Laura entering Brookhaven Hospital from the bushes on the left – Removed debug numbers displayed behind wallpapers in Blue Creek Apartments’ Clock Room – Resolved an issue with James not being able to leave the 3F corridor in the Lakeview Hotel – Fixed an issue with the lightbulb on the 3rd floor of Blue Creek Apartments constantly switching on and being impervious to destruction – Resolved an issue with the small coffee table blocking James in the corner of the room located in Woodside Apartments – Fixed an issue where after completing the Disgust Path in Labyrinth, the player was forced to do it all over again – Fixed an issue with Spider Mannequins getting stuck when attacking James while he is going through squeeze traversal – Fixed an issue with James getting stuck in the window frame while attacking Lying Figures located outside of the window – Added more natural movement for James when switching weapons while aiming – Fixed an issue with triggering Spider Mannequin event on Fear Path in the Labyrinth multiple times – Improved the ability to pick up items during the final boss fight – Fixed an issue with picture frames overlapping in the Moth Room – Improved the deformation of Nurses’ skirts – Fixed an issue occurring when displaying the information about unlocking NewGame+ which didn’t appear in the player’s chosen language – Fixed visible unloading of the door of an abandoned garage in the west side of South Vale – Fixed question mark on the map during Chute Puzzle in Woodside Apartments
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
RailGods Of Hysterra is one of those games that, as it were, shovels a bunch of relatively dried-up concepts into the squirming furnaces of something appealingly ghastly. On the one hand, it’s burdened by talk of “crafting”, “base-building” and “survival” – all things I have enjoyed but am currently weary of, and which together make the game sound interchangeable with half of Steam. But it’s elevated, on the other hand, by talk of living helltrains that eat crocodiles for breakfast. Without further ado, here’s a trailer.
Bloober Team has admitted it knew it had to “evolve” after releasing The Medium, a decision which led to the development of bigger games such as the Silent Hill 2 remake and the upcoming Cronos: The New Dawn.
Cronos director and producer Jacek Zieba told IGN that The Medium, which arrived in 2021 as a psychological horror adventure game alongside a Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, became a turning point for the studio as it looked to make bigger and better games.
“I think after The Medium it was very clear to us that we needed to evolve,” Zieba said. “It was like, ‘let’s end the chapter of the adventure games.’ Layers of Fear, Observer, and The Medium, [games that were] strange, experimental, with fixed camera tools. ‘Okay, let’s finish with that.’
“We also want to evolve, so let’s go into survival horror, let’s create something of our own, something different than other games in the genre in terms of world, story, and also gameplay. Let’s create another game of our dreams.”
The Silent Hill 2 remake was somewhat of a coming out party for Bloober Team to show it could make a big budget survival horror adventure. It arrived October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales, and Bloober Team is open to making more Silent Hill games too, either remakes or something completely fresh.
In our 8/10 review of the Silent Hill 2 remake, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
